Various sport boards and accessories have been proposed and implemented for improved ride, control, and enjoyment of surfing, wakeboarding, sand skimming, skateboarding, sail boarding, wake skating, wake surfboarding, and other similar types of board sports using a sport board. Further, both sport boards and accessories have been disclosed and developed with auxiliary devices to hold and position the user on the board. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,285,082 issued to Cox, Aug. 25, 1981, discloses a surfboard safety and control accessory using strips of Velcro® or Velcro®-like material on the surfboard, wetsuit, and bootie. But, Cox does not provide enough surface area on the board or bootie to effectively control the board.
Other modifications of sport boards for greater control and maneuverability may be found. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,645,466 issued to Ellis, Feb. 24, 1987, a footpiece with Velcro® or Velcro®-like material is secured to a surfboard and to a bootie. However, Ellis only provides thin strips of Velcro® on the board for attachment to a bootie. Again, these narrow strips positioned linearly with the dimensions of the board do not provide enough surface area or efficient positioning to effectively control the board. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,454,743 issued to Simonson, Oct. 3, 1995, a surfboard is disclosed with ribbed or corrugated side rails for improved strength without an increase in weight. The Simonson surfboard also has a portion of the top surface of the surfboard covered with a layer of unbroken loop nylon material overlying a layer of closed cell foam to form a mat. The Simonson system includes a footpiece with a sole portion having an unbroken loop material for removable attachment to the top surface of the surfboard. Simonson provides two unbroken loop nylon material portions on the top surface of the board. However, these material portions are not segmented for better water channeling and variable levels of adherence at different foot positions. Further, the bootie described in Simonson only has a narrow nylon strip on the sole of the bootie. This narrow strip again does not provide enough surface area to effectively control the board.
Thus, an improved sport board and bootie for better maneuverability and control of a sport board is needed.